An Open Letter to Democrats.

Dear members of the Democratic Party, elected officials hailing from said party, and left-leaning political spectators,

Please, please, please, please don’t fuck this up (catch the J. Stewart reference, anyone?). We need this election, and we need ti badly. I think we can safely say we’re within striking distance of a united Congress and President.

Put your minor differences in liberal ideals aside for a moment, and think of the unifying concerns we all face. Health care, gas prices, defense spending, social security, declining housing market, unemployment, global social welfare (like contributing to disaster relief funds), and the list goes on (and was only in a marginally intentional order). While we, as democrats, may have minor differences in opinion about the best outcomes and procedures to procure such outcomes, we all have the same vague ideals in mind. Now, think about what we could get done with either of the two nominees. I won’t name them since that could be read as endorsement. Your favored or your less favored will still accomplish many of the goals of our party when paired up with the democratic Congress.

So is getting YOUR nominee to be the nominee in November worth risking throwing the high office to McCain? Let’s knock off the in-fighting; focus on constructive ways to strengthen your candidate and our party at the same time so that no matter who it is, our candidate doesn’t enter November with a black eye courtesy of the Democratic Party.

Sincerely,

Metadnauseam

New Years Resolution x 12

So this year I did something rather new.  Instead of deciding, arbitrarily to change my life starting New Years Day, I would instead make a series of smaller, more manageable improvements.  See, when you decide you need to turn your life upside down and do everything at once, it makes it, well, too hard.  Also, the moment you break one of your resolutions, you often find yourself figuring you blew it and you cave to all.

Well look no further than this 12 month approach.  Each month you decide to take up one doable challenge.  The idea is that if you cut out a bad habit or addiction for three weeks, you will probably no longer be so controlled by it.  Additionally, if you add a new habit to your regimen for a month, you have a pretty good chance at sticking with it, at least partially so.

Think of something small you can do that would just make your health or life a bit better.  Then do it for a month.  If you’re cutting something bad out of your life, you know you’re not giving up your vice completely, but putting it off for a set amount of time.  If you’re adding something new, you will know that you can accomplish it regularly, and after the month is over you might manage to keep it up.

Try something not so hard first… perhaps give up red meat for a month.  You know you’ll come back to it after the month is over, but when you do come back, you won’t find yourself eating red meat quite as often.  Try to brush your teeth one extra time every day each month and then after that, you might find yourself brushing that extra time five or six times a week. Not bad, right?

March for me, is going to be the month of vegetarianism.  I eat meat pretty often, and I think I would do well to cut back.  Leave a smaller carbon footprint, consume less calories a day, get more vitamins and antioxidants… good, yes?  Come April, I will begin eating meat again, but I’ll have learned lots of new vegetarian friendly recipes and I’ll probably generally not want to eat meat so often.

So think about it, make 12 small resolutions to yourself to just cut back or do that little something extra.  No need to wait till next New Years.  Start now; make small and manageable promises to yourself and then feel good when you stick to them.

McCain: Finger-wagger!

That’s the 2008 version of 2004’s Flip-Flopper. In 2006, prior to the midterm elections, John McCain wagged his finger at all the seemingly fair-weather republicans (hah) for trying to distance themselves from Bush. He told us that he wasn’t going to be running for president even though many people on both sides thought he would be a good idea (at the time). He scolded his republican allies for priding themselves on how they differ from George Bush and proceeded to tell us to stand by our president. Because he is our president.

Does anyone besides me remember this?

Anyways, back when people wanted him to run and he didn’t want to run, he wagged his finger at all the naughty republicans and all of us democrats for abandoning Bush. Well, now that he’s the front running republican, I wonder if people will remember such insults. Are you going to let it slide that he told us to stand behind Bush simply because he is our president? I’m not going to respect anyone who says to follow authority simply because it is authority.

Along those lines, check out this buried gem by Guiliani:

“Freedom is not a concept in which people can do anything they want, be anything they can be. Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do.”

The Switch: Political Parties and Progressiveness

What did you call me? A progressive?! I’m not sure if I’m offended or pleased…

America’s two political parties have, in a sense, switched places. The party formerly known as conservative is now the party interested in pushing new frontiers and reshaping the world, reshaping old business models, and getting involved heavily in global affairs. Yes, you heard me. The republican party can now proudly be called the party of progressives.

Take for example, outsourcing of customer support call centers to other countries. The republican party is in favor of allowing American companies to take jobs overseas; using the capabilities of global telecommunications, companies can outsource call centers and throw a big wrench into old business models that were limited by long-distance telecommunications costs. The democratic party is interested in protecting American jobs and keeping companies from fully taking advantage of the capabilities of new technologies.

Obviously, the republican party is also greatly interested in playing a large role in international events - being involved in conflicts that don’t involve America necessarily. Now the democrats could be considered the isolationists: wanting to decrease the size of the military, keeping focus on domestic concerns, letting other countries duke it out, so to speak.

In defense, climate change is a big deal, and the more we can do to improve our ability to move forward into the twenty first century with our green foot forward, the better. Additionally, we will need some time to fix all the things that have been neglected for the last 7 years. Namely, Americans.

Really, there is a lot to be said for both sides, but it can’t be denied how labels can change right from under our noses.

Incredible

Read:

http://www.demonbaby.com/blog/2007/10/when-pigs-fly-death-of-oink-birth-of.html

Another Post About 9-11

Had I not been reminded a few times yesterday about the looming shadow of today, I could have forgotten that which today marks the six year anniversary. I think I saw one flag at half-mast today. I didn’t really watch much TV today, which is to say, I watched slightly more than I usually do (big fat none). Nothing was said while I was watching; surprisingly no commercials used it as a shameless marketing device.

I remember immediately after it happened I wanted people to refuse to talk about it. I wanted people to just observe the unfolding events, mourn, and say nothing. That was certainly not the case. Immediately there were all sorts of wild speculations about liberation fronts, neo-Oklahoma City bombers, the CIA, the complete breakdown of society, et al. I was in high school when it happened (my first tell of my age I think I’ve made in my blog), and I remember immediately following, about 10 people were called to the office. Someone said that they were being called down to be told their parents had died. It was too soon; I knew it couldn’t be the case, but what if it was? It just made me want to be in denial longer. Not out of denying the reality of the day, but denying the wild, whispered ruminations.

This is sort-of akin to my treatment after the Virginia Tech shootings.  Even know, when people take sagely or knowingly, pretentiously and callously about either the shootings or 9/11, it makes me annoyed or even angry. I’m not one of those “get over it” people, but in some ways, that is what people need to do. For some, trying to probe and scrutinize a tragedy must be a sign of greater compassion or insights into the human condition.

So where do we go from here, then? Do we continue to remember in marginally declining amounts each year? Will 9/11 always represent this sense of weightiness and somberness that we have experienced on these days in the past years? Will our post-modern skepticism win out and we will explicitly decide to refute the sense of mourning as an empty self-conscious form of coping?

The Examined Life

I wrote this brief essay last autumn under the title: Socrates Had it All Wrong.  I have made some edits and corrections since then, but this is the gist of it.

The examined life is not only not worth living, but not living at all. Socrates said that the wiser man is the one who comes to realize the breadth of his ignorance. The fool is the one who doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. While this may be true - the contemplative man is wiser and more modest, it is ultimately a terrible fate. It is tragic really.

The path to wisdom is to contemplate your ignorance and realize how much of it there is? Socrates said that the unexamined life is not worth living. Think on this though: when are you most unhappy? When you are thinking on a negative past experience or thinking about the negative state of things. When are you most happy? During the times that “fly by.” Why? Because you’re not thinking. Thinking sort of interferes with experience. Reflection and metacognition are removed from the actual experience of living. Camus wrote that Sisyphus poured himself into his task, learned to appreciate the rock and the very ceaseless aspect of his eternal duty.  This awareness of the problem allows us to move beyond it.  Learning to appreciate the toil of our modern lives in this light is really the process of learning to live. He also vividly details the toil of the inexorable task, the recurring moment when Sisyphus turns to see his rolling rock, and contemplates his torment. This reflection is as futile as it is unpleasant. The idea that ignorance is bliss is recurring, even though it is often portrayed as negative and the bane to civilized democratic society. The fact that it recurs must mean that it is worth considering. So how now can the unexamined life be that bad?

The Stranger is a miniature dialectic for this entire argument: in the first half, Meursault lives his life without thought or contemplation. It is only through confinement and the trial that he is forced to reflect on his life. This process leaves him unfulfilled and angry, as he explodes at the Chaplin before his execution. While Meursault is arguably not a complete person for having such shallow thoughts and emotions (if any at all), he at least lives a happily innocent life.

So what is the verdict?  Probably that I overthink everything.

‘arry Potter? ‘arry Potter!!

In the summer of 2000, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was released. I had actually never even heard of this series of books until my mother bought me a copy of the first Harry Potter and told me I should give it a try. I resisted for a while, thinking it was just a kid’s book. Sometime towards the end of summer I finally cracked it open and ended up reading it in two days. I hurried out to buy the next three and read them in a week’s time.

Since then, I have had a substantial reading affair with what is, on the outside, a series of children’s books. I know I don’t need to say, “but they are really good reads even for adults,” as you have all certainly heard it. Truth be told, I think the marketing is the cause for the runaway success of the Harry Potter franchise. Look at the hype surrounding the bittersweet release of the final episode of the, now adult, fledgling wizards. I’m not trying to diminish the impact and granduer of the books, but realistically, the marketing for this machine is incredible. There are going to be thousands, if not millions of people screaming simultaneously in an hour and 40 minutes as the first wave of Americans and Canadians get place their hands on their own copies of this time. There will be thousands, if not millions of people screaming and cheering on the hour for the next several hours for the same reason. There are probably close to a quarter million people currently wearing or soon to be wearing wizard or Harry Potter related garb tonight.

Interestingly, but not surprisingly, there has been a leak and there are photographs of every page of the last novel floating around the internet. Thousands of people, I daresay, have already consumed the last book. There will probably be people driving past the “midnight magic” party at your local Barnes and Noble shouting spoilers. If you are planning on buying a zero-day copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, prepare to isolate yourself until you finish reading it. Also, try to isolate yourself during the purchasing process. That is, if you want to be surprised. It is a little disappointing that so many people thrive on ruining the experience for others. Regardless, it happened the for the last book and the book before; it happened for the third Star Wars episode, and will certainly be happening again, tonight.

I seem to have started a little bit of trouble.

Original post is somewhat irrelevant, but check out the comments.

Link

Sicko

My health insurance benefits ended roughly two weeks ago, so for the past month I have been seeking a new health insurance provider. Ironically the day after I saw this movie, I was informed by Blue Anthem that my application was denied due to an expensive medication I require. I was then told that no insurance company in my state would take me because of this, and that my only option would be to get a job offering a group plan, but there would still be a chance of being declined here as well.

I left the movie completely aghast at how not subtle the differences between public and private health care are, and with many seeming myths about public health care debunked. I do know that Moore’s movies aren’t known for being a modest middle-ground voice of neutrality. However, even I was convinced that my typical 5-week waiting period to see my doctor was a blessing compared to the months I would have to wait to see doctors in Canada or the UK. After seeing the movie I asked some friends I know in Canada who confirmed that they almost never have to wait more than an hour. One person who needed to see the only dermatologist at the clinic she visits informed me she waited about an hour and a half. Though, she could have probably gotten in earlier, but she told them it wasn’t urgent and that she wouldn’t mind waiting.

Unfortunately for as many people as this movie may touch, I have my doubts that it will have any actual effect. Health care and pharma companies are too well entrenched with too much money and too many lobbyists for us, We The People, to intervene at this late date.

I’m not sure why people have been so apprehensive about socialized health care. I would like to think people have moved past this “communist” fear thing. The cold war is long over and was ridiculous enough on it’s own. Why can’t we adopt this mindset of taking care of each other and letting doctors regain their dignity and humanity? When did we all start believing that health should only be available to the wealthy?

It all reminds me of a poll I participated in not too long ago that asked if I would rather be granted health or wealth? I was saddened to have to select wealth, because I knew that wealth is the only way to claim AND maintain health.